I think this particular set of responses is talking not about selling repressive technologies, but about the state of surveillance in those home countries. Tha

I think this particular set of responses is talking not about selling repressive technologies, but about the state of surveillance in those home countries. That is my interpretation of yogthos' comment wasn't that there was ample evidence of the U.S. selling repressive technology to repressive regimes (FWIW indeed there is), but rather that it's rich for Western residents to criticize Chinese surveillance (within China) given that the West has essentially the same surveillance within its respective countries, just hidden a lot better. Hence there is no moral high ground for the West to stand on. My own take is that I don't care about moral high ground or no moral high ground, nor am I even sure I'm criticizing the Chinese government per se. I do think the state of surveillance is a factor in China's current economic success (in fact that's one reason I find it rather terrifying from a personal perspective since that makes it attractive as a model to follow) and that's done wonders for a lot of people in China (though certainly not everyone). I do think though that the situation is very different between the two areas (certainly at least China and the U.S.), to the degree that saying the two systems are essentially the same, just with different amounts of public acknowledgment from their respective governments, is glossing over too many important differences.